[THIN] Re: Citrix Disaster Recovery Assistance required

For automatic failover of DNS, look at GSLB functionality in the NetScaler products. I assume both sites are accessible to the Internet and each site will have a differnet public IP for the WI servers. You can also do proximity based GSLB so you always connect to the closest data center.

 

If you keep both sites in the same farm, use zone preference and failover. Or you can make each site its own farm with the WI servers in each site pointing to the local farm.

On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Chad Schneider (IT) <Chad.M.Schneider@thedacare.org> wrote:

What server will your TS and CTX licensing run on in the DR site?

 

I would look at combining the Datastore/Data Collector roles on a single server.

>>> On 1/21/2009 at 10:23 PM, <angela_smith9@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi

Im looking at upgrading our Citrix farm to incorporate DR capability which is currently lacking.  We have a 1Gb link between the 2 sites in the same city.  I was looking at implementing the following:

Primary Site (Site 1)
2 x Web Interface Servers using Windows Network Load Balancing (VMWare Virtual Server)   
1 x Dedicated Zone Data Collector (VMWare Virtual Server)   
10 x Citrix Presentation Server 4 (Physical Servers)
1 x SQL Server for Datastore (VMWare Virtual Server)
1 x File Server for Citrix Roaming Profiles and File Store (Physical Server)
1 x MS Print Server (VMWare Virtual Server)

DR + Secondary Site (Site 2)
1 x Web Interface (VMWare Virtual Server)
1 x Backup Zone Data Collector (VMWare Virtual Server)
10 x Citrix Presentation Server 4 (Physical Server)
1 x SQL Server for Datastore (backup only)
1 x File Server for Citrix Roaming Profiles and File Store (backup only)
1 x MS Print Server (VMWare Virtual Server - backup only)

We are running Citrix Presentation Server 4/Windows 2003.  File Server and SQL datastore data are replicated between both sites.  All Citrix Servers will use the File Server in Site 1 but we need to ensure Citrix Servers are load balanced across both sites. Can the following be achieved:

1) I need to build redundancy so if Site 1 is down, all users can connect to Site 2 automatically (its acceptable if they need to logout/login). Can this be achieved using Citrix PNAgent and Web Interface clients?  Do we need to implement DNS changes or can the failover be automatic?
2) We want to ensure Citrix users in Site 1 connect to Citrix Server in Site 1 and users in Site 2 connect to Citrix Servers in Site 2.  Will zone preference and failover settings achieve this?
3) Is one Zone sufficient or should I have a zone for each site?

Can anyone suggest any best practices / links to guides for such an implementation or better ways to implement such a solution.  I need to ensure the DR solution is as seamless as possible.

Thanks

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